Tet Offensive
• North Vietnamese and Vietcong launch a surprise major
attack in South Vietnam on the Vietnamese New Year (Tet)
• Able to enter the American embassy and South Vietnamese
presidential palace in Saigon
• Communists kill many of those loyal to South Vietnam
• US overcame the enemy forces, but the Tet offensive was a
psychological win for the North Vietnamese and Vietcong
• After Tet Offensive many Americans did not believe U.S.
could win war (President Johnson sees popularity plunge)
My Lai
• U.S. soldiers were under extreme stress – Not sure who to trust
• Lt. William Calley Jr. orders the murder of civilians at village of My Lai
(400 innocent Vietnamese civilians killed)
• Helicopter crew led by Hugh Thompson is able to save some
Vietnamese
• Calley is sentenced to life in prison – sentence was reduced to 20
years (released after 3 years)
Election of 1968- Democratic Primary
Antiwar candidate Eugene McCarthy made strong showing in N.H.
Primary finishing a close second to LBJ
LBJ shocks everyone and announces he will not run for reelection
Robert Kennedy looks like he will win nomination but is assassinated
in June
Democrats nominate Hubert Humphrey to run against Richard Nixon
• Democratic Convention of 1968
• Chicago Mayor Richard Daley pledges to keep war
protesters in line
• Police and protesters battle in the streets in front of
television cameras
• Democrats are torn apart
• Election of 1968
• Nixon (R) – Humphrey (D)- George Wallace (American Independent Party)
• Wallace appealed to segregationists and blue collar voters (45 electoral
votes)
• Nixon wins and Republicans will control presidency for 16 of next 20 years
• Middle America wanted to restore law and order after turbulent 1960’s
Nixon and Vietnam
•Claimed to have “secret” plan to end the war
•Paris Peace talks began in May, 1968 – no agreement
•Vietnamization – replaces American troops with South Vietnamese
•By 1972 U.S. troop strength is down to 24,000
•Secretly orders bombing in Cambodia – follows with ground forces
•Goal was to eliminate communist camps used to attack American troops in
Vietnam  U.S. citizens angered when found out; increased anti-war protests!
Kent State
•Students at Kent State in Ohio burn ROTC building during protests
•Governor ordered National Guard on campus
•Students throw rocks and try to get National Guard to react
•National Guard opens fire - 4 students dead and 9 wounded
•Nation remained deeply divided
Withdrawal = Paris Peace Accords of 1973
•
January 1973 all sides sign formal agreement in Paris ending the war
1. U.S. would withdraw troops in 60 days
2. All POW’s would be released
3. End of military activities in Laos and Cambodia
4. 17th Parallel would divide nation
Aftermath
•American military involvement ended in 1973
•Spring of 1975 South is overrun by North Vietnamese
•U.S. carries out last minute helicopter evacuations at embassy in Saigon
•April 30th,1975 South Vietnam surrenders
•Vietnam becomes a single nation under a communist government
Legacy of War
•58,000 Americans dead and 300,000 wounded
•Many soldiers felt their service in the war was not appreciated
•In many ways nation remained divided
•One of the longest and least successful wars in U.S. History